THE GISTBend, Oregon's second oldest brewery, Bend Brewing Company, which was established in 1995, has announced the purchase of the riverfront lot adjacent to its downtown brewpub location. The brewery intends to convert this space into an outdoor location for patrons of its brewpub.

WHY IT MATTERSIn the fast-paced world of craft beer sometimes it’s the little things that matter. And those little things can be as simple as expanding your local taproom space to create a better offering for your customers. Older breweries that generally had smaller taprooms are recognizing that they need to expand to meet the demands of local trade in much the same way that they need to expand to meet the needs of a national audience. And in a world where self-distro and taproom are tools for growth, breweries are competing with distribution and retailer tiers as ell.

In a similar move, AB-Inbev has expanded Goose Island's national hospitality footprint, and Fort Collins’ New Belgium Brewery (who self-distros in Fort Collins) are also about to launch a vastly expanded taproom space and beer garden at its Liquid Centre, which sits at the front of the Colorado brewery’s headquarters. Further evidence that established breweries recognize that their local market is as important as their global one.